In Philippians chapter 1, thank you for the little bit extra time. I have been pushing it, and I've got to get back in sync with time. We're about five minutes before we start the next service, and so give us a little time to fellowship, move around, go to the restroom, get a drink, or whatever have you. But Philippians chapter one in verse nine, notice with me we'll read a couple verses here. It says here, in this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ. This morning, if we're able to get through what I have here, we'll deal with the principle of excellence. The principle of excellence. Now, the complacency is not a recipe for success in the Christian life. If you have a tendency to just be complacent or to be simply lazy, we've kind of preached and taught on that, or just maybe have whatever have you, there will be an obstacle, a natural obstacle that is either put there imaginatively or maybe physically that hinders you from having success in the Christian life. This is a problem. So this principle is going to deal with some of this. I want to say rather than doing just enough to get by, it's kind of discomplacing, just barely making it by, we should do the best that we can in every endeavor, especially for Jesus Christ. And in remembering that we bear the name of Jesus and that the Lord is watching everything that we do, everything that takes place. and also the things that we do not or we choose not to do for him. I wanna say this, the principle of excellency, God deserves my best in every part of my life. God deserves my best in every part of my life. The reality that God calls us to a life of excellence in Philippians chapter one, and you'll notice there in our verse, it was mentioned, Paul shared with the Philippian church that he was praying for them to grow in knowledge and discernment that they might be able to approve what is excellent. And so there will be, those are the two points. I'm not gonna dwell too much on them, but you're going to need to grow in knowledge and discernment. I think of Hebrews chapter five, I think I mentioned it earlier in the prayer just a few moments ago about having discernment, knowing both the difference between good and evil. A lot of times as Christians in our culture and religion is bad for this was kind of the last 50, 60, 70 years have taught Christians like, well, you're supposed to be pious or passive or indecisive and not being able to discern certain things. The Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches God's love, that he so loved the world, you have love. Our culture today thinks, well, love is not telling the truth. Love is like turning a blind eye to something that is wrong. That is not love. That is not true love. True love is, of course, the attitude and the heart motive towards it. But true love is like having a true friend. A true friend is going to tell you some hard things sometimes. Sometimes you're going to have to hear the things that you don't want to hear. Sometimes you're going to have to engage with things in your life that you don't want to engage with. Maybe a relationship, maybe a situation, and you're like, I just don't want to tackle that. But love, true love, is very important. We don't want to be passive. We want to have discernment, knowing what is good and what is evil, and being able to make a position or take a stand. God wants us, you and I, to be Christians that are willing and able to take a stand. The only way you can take a stand or have the willingness to want to do that is, number one, have the right heart. Number two, have some discernment. And discernment comes through hearing the Word of God or studying the Word of God. God puts the temperament, if you please, inside you that you need. Every one of us here this morning has a different, unique character. Some are more, if you please, more what we call maybe passive, some are more direct, some are more bold. You'll have different types of characters. God uses every one of those, though, but still to take a stand. All right, I notice that Christians often, as they grow, they move through three basic phases in their growth. And so you can put yourself in here and ask yourself this. The first level is avoiding the bad. This is when we cut a sinful habit or questionable activity from our lives. You might be the Christian who says, I've never done that. be a good time maybe in your life to look at things that are not pleasant or healthy, are great maybe for you or for your relationship or where you're at, and cut it, remove it, begin to work to remove it from your life. That's level one, avoiding the bad. Number two, the second level is implementing the good in your life, in your Christian life. This is when we replace the habit or activity we cut with something good. So you say, well, I didn't know I was supposed to do that. We kind of taught on our principal Sunday night making sure that you have something that replaces your committed unto. It might have been last Sunday school class, dealing with some vision about being submitted or committed or separated unto, the Bible speaks of it. That doesn't mean just separated from, but separated unto. I think I used the illustration of having good ice cream and needed not to eat ice cream, no matter how good or how great it was, but replacing that with something that's better, homemade yogurt, all right? And so it's kind of a, but that happens, that's the replacement for that ice cream. It's white, it's soft, it's creamy, it doesn't have any sugar in it, so you have to put honey or maple syrup in it. And then you can put nuts or blueberries, which works well, or some type of berry. But the point of it is replacing what you should not be, in my case, indulging in with something that is okay or healthy. And so in our Christian life, it's the same way. You say, well, I don't think I have anything in my life that needs to be replaced or needs to be worked on. You do, according to the Word of God. The Bible is simple about that. It's not an if. It's just the things that we are going to be honest about. So this phase level, phase two, is implementing the good. This is when we replace the habit or activity we cut with something that is good. It's always advisable, as the Bible teaches that principle, is you want to separate yourself unto something else. unto the work of God, unto reading God's Word, taking in God's Word, rather than something else. You need something to replace that. If not, what it happens is you have a spiritual vacuum. There is a neutral place, which you think might be a neutral place, but it is a playing ground for your adversary. And so you say, well, I'm doing great. I'm going to quit this and I'm not going to do that no more. Well, you better find something to replace that because you're going to go, you're going to be right back to that place. And so you'll create or have a vacuum, and you will not be able to control that area. You'll call it neutral ground. Satan calls it his ground. And he'll have his weeds and his stuff growing there before you know it. You'll turn around. You'll wake up. I'm like, wait a minute. I was trying to quit smoking. Now I'm smoking and chewing. What's going on? That's the stuff. So you create a vacuum. You separate yourself from something. You need to be separating yourself unto something. The third level, embrace the excellence. This is rarely where we get, but this is where we need to go. This is when we add godly actions and pursuits for the purpose of pleasing God. Level three is where we should, we all as Christians should live and we should be earnestly seeking to grow in our walk with God and living for the glory of God. I'm thinking of a man, Daniel chapter six. I'll tell you what. We have the time. Let's go over to Daniel, if you would. Daniel chapter six. He's in the minor prophet area. Daniel chapter six. Here, Daniel, he was a prisoner far from his home. And Daniel remained faithful to the God of Israel, refusing to eat what was not allowed by the law, and refusing to worship the foreign gods of Babylon. Some theologians put him in the neighborhood at this point, somewhere around about 13 to 15, maybe 16 or 17. It doesn't really say, but some of the latter verses in Daniel refer to he could be upwards to almost 80 years old. And so he lives a long time in captivity. But notice, and I'm not really dwelling on his his age, although I believe he's a young man here. But look at Daniel chapter six in verse three, more of the principle of what he and where he was at. Daniel chapter 6 and verse 3, it says, then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. If you back up, you'll read about what takes place, but he starts early on in his decision making for not to defile himself with the things that were found in Babylon. Even the people in Babylon didn't think anything about eating the king's meat. They thought that would probably be an honor, or drinking the king's wine. They thought that would be an honor. But for Daniel, it was defiling what he had already set. He had made a pact with himself not to defile himself with the portions of the world where he was at. And at that point in time, it was the king's meat and his wine. And then here you'll find, as God uses him, God gives him an excellent spirit. And this is the principle that goes along with our text in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 9. And so we see this. Something else about Daniel, he didn't stop there. He was faithful to God, not just in one thing, but he was faithful in God in many other ways. Daniel was diligent and careful, taking every responsibility seriously and doing his best. That led to his promotion under Darius. The other rules you'll find there in Daniel chapter 6. If you begin to look at what happens here, the other rulers hated Daniel and they were jealous of him, but all of their efforts to find something in his work that they could use against him had failed. They couldn't find anything in this young man's life. He had an excellent spirit and a demeanor about himself. And so he lived in excellency in every area of his life from his work ethic to his walk with God to his spiritual or his spirit towards other people. And this is very important. You say, well, I struggle with that. Well, then we've identified an area that you need work on. Just because you have a weak area doesn't mean that it shouldn't be touched and you should never work on it or change it. If you're of the mindset, say, well, that's how God made me. I'm half jerk, so I'm going to be a jerk. That's just who I am. No, that's not who you are. That's not how God made you. That's how God has mercy and grace allowed you to be a jerk without taking your life or teaching your lessons. Sometimes he does, but Satan gets in there, and he'll work with your dispositions, and he'll allow you to be the jerk. He'll allow you to be the goofball if you please. God did not create you that way. And he wants you to realize and understand that there's areas in your life that need more of an excellent spirit about them. I think as a husband, your wife would like that. I think as a wife, your husband and your children would like that. And the children, I think you would like to have a parent that, yeah, they gotta, I can't say anything that bad about my father's spirit or my mom. They always have a great spirit about them. It's same for the children. I don't have many children here, You know, sometimes I've got teenagers now, and man, they're right. You know, they're right when people say the teen years, it's like you can't figure them out. One moment, the wind's blowing this way. The next moment, the wind's blowing this way. And you've got so many different dispositions and attitude. And you want to be careful. I mean, you can get up and say, hey, that needs to be changed. Get it changed. Or however you're going to deal with it as a parent. depending on the situation of the person. But me, it's kind of like, now look, I know that's not really you. Because yesterday, we were laughing and cutting up and everything was great. Now all of a sudden, everything's not great. I'm not saying it has to be great. I'm saying is there something we need to talk about? What's going on? Tell me about it. And it'll be if they say. Sometimes they won't say. No, everything's fine. You're like, yeah. Yeah, so teens, you need a good spirit about you. Daniel is a good character in the Bible. Joseph is another that speak of an excellent spirit. Well, let me give you some truths to keep in mind regarding striving for excellence. Let's do that. Now I'm looking at Philippians, I'm back in my text, and it says here in verse nine, in this I pray, I'm gonna read that verse again, that your love may abound, this is Paul teaching this church at Ephesus, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may, the reason why, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. I want to say this, don't settle for just doing what is good enough to get by. That thought or mindset, and some people tend to be drawn to that thinking, than others, but that mindset is not a godly mindset. It is an earthly or devilish mindset. The ideal of just doing enough to get by is foreign to the nature and character of God. When you study the character of God and his attributes, you're not going to find that settling for just doing what is good enough to get by, that's not one of his attributes. He always does more than the minimum required. When Jesus multiplied a little boy's lunch in Matthew to feed a crowd of thousands, he did not provide just enough to keep them alive. If you study it, he provided enough to fill them up and there was still more left over. So you'll find this is the character attributes of our heavenly father. So don't just settle for just doing what is good enough to get by. Well, that's just where I'm at. That's just how I'm going to look at it. You're going to struggle with your relationship, number one, with God. You're going to struggle with a relationship with other people. Amen. And you say, why? It's because you think just doing good enough to get by is good enough. And it's going to cause you some trouble. This principle of having or striving for an excellent spirit or excellence is good, it's biblical. We should never be satisfied with doing just enough, but instead strive to do excellently. The task may not be worthy of you, but diligence is. I've heard that quite a few times in my life doing piddly jobs or jobs and maybe I didn't thought really I was up to doing the job, but it says, well, you might not be or that job might be underneath you, but diligence, you still owe it to be diligent to whatever's been given to you or your assignment. So that's a quote, the task may not be worthy of you, but diligence is. I want to say, secondly, evaluate everything using God's value system, not the world or self. You see, inside of us, we have a valued system. A lot of times, more often than not, our valued system, how we judge right or wrong or what's good or excellent, from a different standpoint than God's. And this morning, evaluate everything from using God's value system. Spiritual discernment helps us distinguish between what is good and what is better and what is best. What is bad should never be an option for a believer. I hadn't really thought about it. Well, as we read here in Philippians in our text, we're not to determine our choices or set our values by what the world thinks. When you read that, it's based off the knowledge and judgment that we obtain from Christ. He says in verse 9 of this, I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. You're going to grow. So there's growth in your Christian life. Every one of us, no matter how young you are or how old you are, how many years you've been in church, there should still be growth. God ever has you on a purpose or a plan. That purpose and plan, I can assure you, is always going to be about growth, doing more for God. Your love should abound more and more for the things of God. You say, well, let's take an evaluation of 12 months, a year back. Have you moved closer to the things of God? Have you done more for God or less for God? Have you thought more about God or less for God? How about your love, your love language to God? Your love level for God has it has it gotten stronger as it gotten colder less more or less Well The Bible is not silent, so Paul is teaching this, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. So there is going to be a day. He goes on, look at verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, verse 11, I'm in our text, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. And so we find this, the fact that something is popular does not mean that it is right. I found this out early in my life. And you'll have a tendency to want to me to be more prone to going along with what is popular. Well, you know, religion teaches that this is popular. Religion teaches that. I'd be very careful of that because what you find a lot of times is just because that it might be popular doesn't mean that it's right. And you have to equate that, you have to discern, you need to look at God's value system on this. And the fact that some Christians do something does not mean that engaging in that ourselves is an excellent choice. We look at, well, I had a gentleman I brought up, a good man, still a good friend, but he made this statement that, well, there's, you know, 1.8 billion Christians, or what he was calling Christians, can't be wrong, so I'm going with them. So he's taking the majority and saying, because the majority is saying this, I'm siding with them. I thought, that's a poor value system. You could just possibly believe in 1.8 people could possibly be wrong. And so if it goes against what God is saying or his system, it more than likely is. I'm not talking about the niceness or the neatness or how great or how good people are. I'm talking about God's value system versus man's value system. So be mindful of that, to use God's value system rather than man's. Knowing the will of God and the purpose for our life is important. Before we can correctly choose what is excellent, we must have a clear goal in mind. So what is that goal? Well, God's specific plan for every Christian will vary. All right, but the general will of God is the same for every Christian and is clearly laid out in scripture. I've taught this forwards and backwards, and it's kind of when people begin to think about this, well, the will of God is different than mine. No, it's the same. God's will is the same for everybody. Now, God's plan or purpose for our lives is different. It's gonna be different. You might be a doctor. God has you as a medical doctor and you work in that field. You might be a teacher, a professor. You might be a construction worker. You might be a business owner. There's a number of things that God will have you doing. So does God call you to do that? Absolutely, absolutely. I said, well, I thought it was just pastors and evangelists and pastors. No, that's who he uses as servants to help edify and to encourage and build up the saints. Those are God's ministers and you might be one of those. This morning I'm one of those and so I'm at work. I'm busy about what God has called me to do. But God might have called you maybe to do this years ago. God allow me and call me to work. and to learn a trade, and many trades, and to do this and to do that. That's what God called me to do. When it was time for me to change or transition, or God wanted me to do this, He began to impress upon my heart. I don't no longer have a love or desire for that, but in that transition, there might be some struggle. You know how man is. And I was no different. I was like, I don't think I can do that. I don't think God really wants me to do that. It's going to have to be very clear to me. And God has no problem with being clear, very clear. And so he will speak to your heart. If he wants you to do something, do more, he will press upon your heart. This is God in evaluating the things of God. But we should know the will of God and purpose for our life. God desires that every child of God be like his son. I know this, you see in Romans 8.28 or 8.29 where it talks about that he has, well, let's go over there and read it. I'm going to misquote it, so you might as well go over there and read it. I'm watching the clock here. Romans chapter 8, I believe it's one of the most powerful verses in the New Testament dealing with eternal security or everlasting life. He says in verse 29, Romans 8 and verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed. to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." This is God's desire, God's will. One of them is that we all are conformed to the image of his son. We become more like Christ. That's a work in progress. Some of us There's a lot of work that needs to be done. And so he goes to work in our hearts, in our lives, in our relationships, in our struggles, in our daily wants and desires and needs. God works and he makes a way and he teaches us and conforms us to Jesus Christ. Let me say this, any activity or use of time that makes us less like Jesus should be rejected. Any activity or use of time that does reflect Christ's passion to please the Father should be rejected. You say, what is that? Well, that can be anything. openly will use my hobby or the things that I like to do versus yours. I'll get myself in trouble. But guitar making, I can really go all out with that or repairing or whatever it is. And I can spend my time doing that. Well, if it's not pleasing to God, God likes work and diligence, but if I'm using that By not reading my Bible, studying my Bible, maybe helping somebody out, maybe witnessing to somebody or going and visiting somebody. I'm busy stuck working on a guitar because that's what I want to do. Well, it's going to hinder my relationship with God. And so knowing the will of God and the purpose for my life is very important, and it needs to bring It needs to be used for his glory. And so any task that we take or should receive the very best effort that we can give. When I make and work on guitars, I want to do the best job. I don't want to do it halfway. I have like four or five of them I'm working on right now. And it could take me 10 or 15 minutes and be done with it, and it'll pass. But that's not the best I can do. And so I look at it like, how would I want my instrument worked on? What would I like it to see? And so everything I put my finger on, I want to try to do the best I can. Same for reading or studying the Bible. I know I'm limited. I didn't grow up with 180 IQ or go to Harvard or any place like that. And you don't have to have any of that to just have a willingness to want to do right or to be excellent at what you do. But reading the Bible, studying the Bible, understanding what God's precepts are, understanding what God wants me to see or to use in the ministry, I take, I don't do it lightly. So same, same, same, same thing. Anything that we do needs to be or needs to use the principle of excellency. You can use the simple illustration of you going to a hospital for surgery and you meet your surgeon. And your surgeon, you know, you get to look at him. He doesn't look like he's, you know, look like he slept in his clothes. There's dirt under his fingernails, his hair's shiveled about, and he's struggling. He's got the shakes as well. And you're like, what? I guarantee you begin to make some discernment or some decisions real quick. If he's going to cut you open, cut on you. So you want to be good at it. You want to use the principle of excellency. Trust me. Same with food, same with your job. You want to be good at what you do. Evaluate things in the light of your purpose. This is another area I want to speak of, dealing with this principle. Once we know what God's plan is for our life, it becomes easier to make choices that will lead to excellence. We can't have it all. There's always competing, there is always competing and conflicting priorities. Having a correct set of priorities allows us to do our very best in service to God. Let's go to 2 Timothy, the verse that I put out, verses chapter 2, look at chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, and we're familiar with this because we're studying in 2 Timothy. He says here in verse 4, no man that woreth, I'm in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4, entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier. Now I can relate to some of what we're saying here, evaluate things in the light of our purpose. When I would, people would ask me, well, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Well, 15, 16 years ago, I was really, there wasn't, when I close my eyes or begin to think or pray about My future, there was nothing there. I was helping run some small business. We had an inspection business. We had a construction business. We had a plastering business. And so I'd help run those through my family. But if you're in construction, you know what that's like. You've got to show up, got to do your job, work with customers, make sure you get the job done right, make sure you get paid. The whole thing is from point A to point B, try to make money, go to the next one. And then the other side of my life, I was in other things. at the time, and I taught and loved and trained, and I thought that's what I was going to do. But when I closed my eyes and my mind and my heart, there was nothing there. It was void in the sense of I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought that's martial arts instructor and run small businesses, being a small-time businessman, a construction person. That was in my life. That consisted of what I did. I tried to be very good at what I did, But I'll tell you what changed is the moment in time when I give my life and said, God, I surrendered to preach. And it took a while for God to get me to that point in my life. But when that took place. When I close my eyes or I begin to think or somebody asks me, what are you going to be? What is your future? What are you going to do in five years? That all changed. I knew immediately what I was going to do. I was going to work ministry. I was going to be in ministry. But before I surrendered, it was not there. I did not have peace. It wasn't that I was not content. I just didn't know what I was going to do. It didn't bother me that I didn't know what I was going to do. I just, I didn't know. I couldn't answer the question. Honestly, I said, I don't know. But today, if somebody asks me that, I say, no, by the grace of God, I'll work minister. I'm going to be in ministry, whether it's preaching or teaching or knocking on doors or being in a foreign field or pastor in a church or whatever the case may be. I know now it's a burden. It's a desire in my heart and in my life. That's going to be with me the rest of my life here on earth. And so evaluating things in the light of your purpose. What is your purpose this morning? I had a great family, great upbringing. It wasn't that I was struggling in any way other than God says you're doing something. You're in things that aren't the best. They're just good. I want the excellence and the best to get that out of you. You need to be doing this. And so there was a change in my life. And so let me end this here. Give the best of your time to the best of your opportunities. Give the best of your time to the best of your opportunities. You say, what is the best of my opportunities? Well, this morning you might be, for me, I'm a father. I'm a husband. I'm a minister, a servant of God. So those are the things that I should commit my time, the best of my time to doing. So if you're a father in here, then you need to commit your time in a godly fashion towards those things. If you're taking the quality part of your time and you're into something else, you're not spending your time wisely. If you're a lady that's married in here, you're a wife, maybe a mother, and maybe a minister, a worker, or a business owner, whatever, those are the points of your life where you need to spend the quality part of your time in. And it goes on and on. And so give the best of your time to the best of your opportunities. Most people have a time of day when they are at their best. I like the morning time. Some people are morning people. You hear that, early birds? And some people are evening people. They come awake. They talk. They smile. And it's in the evening. And they're great. And it takes them forever to get to bed. You say, what's wrong with them? Nothing. Nothing. I could hear my father say, you just need to get up at 4.30 and start the day early and vice versa. Trust me, if you're an early bird or an owl, whatever you are, God uses you, but you have a time of day that is best, best use. And so use that time to the full advantage. Don't allow lesser things to occupy your best time. Colossians chapter four and verse five says, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. And so it's important that we understand and manage our time. And time, this time, the best time that we have goes along with this principle of excellence. And so we want to use our best time on the best things. And it gives us leverage. That's the reason why. To accomplish quite a bit far more than where we otherwise could. You need good sleep. You need good rest. And so that quality time, you're the strongest at. You're going to make the best decisions in that time. You don't want to be working on a 10, 12 pitch roof, two stories up, and you've worked hard all day, and it's raining, and you're where you shouldn't be, and you're trying to finish a job up, and you're running around that roof. You're going to fall, and if you're not paying attention to what you're doing, you're going to be, you could be inside the house chopping up onions or tomatoes. If you're not paying attention, and you're tired or haven't had your cup of coffee or the kids are frustrating you or you name it, you better be careful with that knife. You're gonna be going to the emergency care to get sewn up. So using our time for the Lord is important. I'm trying to encourage you more on spiritual things than physical things, but you have a certain amount of good quality time. And if you use that properly, you're gonna have the best leverage in your life, all right? It's gonna give you lateral strength Amen? So there's no part of our life that does not matter to God. Every part deserves our best done as unto the Lord. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, whatsoever thy hand find it to do, do it with thy might. Colossians 2 23, and whatsoever ye do, do it hardly as unto the Lord and not unto men. And so our application this morning is does the way I use my time reflect a commitment to excellence in pursuing God's will? Are there any areas of my life where I'm settling for just getting by rather than doing my best? It might be your relationship. It might be your marriage relationship. It might be your relationship with your child or children. Maybe your relationship with your boss. Have I allowed things that are good to crowd out the things that are better on my schedule. I get caught there quite a bit. I'm over here doing this when I should be doing that. Am I focused on those areas of my life that will produce the greatest results for God? What skills do I need to improve to produce better work, relationships, and service for God? I don't want to improve anything. Well, Good luck with that. It's not going to get you far. It's not godly. It's not a godly attribute. And so this morning, hopefully, the principle of excellence is something that we can take and use and do some correcting in our lives. Heavenly Father, we bow before you this morning. We thank you for this time. And Father, this principle of excellence. And Father, that we may abound more and more in the knowledge and wisdom from you that we may approve things that are of excellence. And Father, be able to see that, correct it, and change it in our lives. Be with our services today. Be with those that get out. And Father, I pray that you would be a blessing, that you would speak to hearts today, change lives. We thank you for the answer prayer this week and today already. We ask these things in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Good morning. God bless you.